Courtney McGrailDear Editor, I was delighted to read that two missionaries and an overseas chaplain are being honoured by President Michael D. Higgins for their “distinguished service” (IC 03/09/2015). Missionaries have devoted their lives to the service of others and have achieved the most incredible things in the field of medicine, education and human rights in developing countries around the world.
However, because they do their work quietly, generally avoiding any publicity or attention, the people at home in Ireland, especially young people, have no real sense of the heroic legacy that the Irish Church has created overseas.
With Mission Month coming up in October, there is an opportunity for more missionaries to share their stories. Maybe missionary congregations and societies could contact youth groups and offer speakers to give testimonies.
You may be reluctant to share ‘war stories’ or to dwell on hardships that were overcome, but these are the very stories that can shake up other people and make them realise the challenges that other societies face and the role of the Church in supporting the world’s most vulnerable.
Yours etc.,
Monica Sherlock,
Drogheda,
Co. Louth.